Reuters recently reported on the raid of a stem-cell clinic in Hungary. This is welcome news, if the allegations are correct, but really is only scratching the surface of this problem – clinics offering dubious stem cell therapies to desperate patients. And in fact this is only one manifestation of a far greater problem – the quack clinic. They represent a serious problem for patients, doctors, and health care regulation.
Stem Cell Clinics
There is a very disturbing trend in the last few years – the proliferation of clinics offering stem cell therapy for a variety of serious, often incurable, diseases such as spinal cord injury, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders. These clinics claim to improve and even cure these diseases by injecting stem cells into the spinal cord or other parts of the body. Treatments typically cost 20-25,000 dollars, plus travel expenses, for a single treatment.
The problem is that these clinics do not have any published evidence that their treatments are valid. There is good reason to think that they are not – stem cell technology is simply not at the point yet where we can use them to cure such diseases. There are many technical hurdles to be overcome first – knowing how to control the stem cells, to get them to survive and become the types of cells necessary to have the desired therapeutic effect, and also figuring out how to keep them from growing into tumors. Basic issues of safety have not yet been sorted out.
Timely, very timely. Thanks Lynn for bringing this to light. I have bookmarked it. You are very welcome I was sent an article from some relatives about a clinic in Mexico that claimed to have a Stem Cell treatment for RA. I was very skeptical, since I'd have thought that if that worked, it would be more in the news and I'd heard nothing about it. You know how it is, I hear RA or Rheumatoid Arthritis anywhere and my radar automatically picks it up. My relatives have even offered me lodging while I get treated. Of course, I have also gotten the books about how to cure myself through positive thinking / diet & exercise / voodoo.... I'm sure we all get them and mostly from well-meaning people... It's hard to get mad but I pretty tune out when people start tried to engage me in such conversations...